The ski station of le Grand Puy near to Gap may not be that well known but the mountains opposite are the site of the German Wings tragedy in 2015. They had been planning to open on the 21st December.

The resort suffers from a number of problems that make it vulnerable to climate change. The road access from Grenoble is via a tricky, cold, north facing switchback road and there is a lack of ...

Very fast tour today. I profited a bit from sheltering behind cyclists where possible. Average speed was 23.9 km/h which is quite good given the climb and complex nature of the semi urban roads. A VAM ...

A short lunch ride, I had just over an hour to do a tour but wanted a bit of climb. For the 300m climb from the Ile de Barbe I took 27m08s, a nice improvement from May when I was 28m29 (163bpm) but at ...

Jackpot, both the climb and descent were closed to motorvehicles (except locals) due to road works but cycles allowed. This made things much calmer. The climb can be very busy at lunchtime as people ...

Trying some new roads. I went along the Saône to a spot called Hawaii - people surf here on the waves. I should have carried on another few meters as there is a tunnel under the railway bridge but ...

Météo France publishes an avalanche bulletin (BRA) for the Alps, Pyrenees and Corsica on a daily basis throughout the ski season from mid-December to the end of April. There is a twice weekly bulletin ...

A snow slab is basically a cohesive layer of snow sitting on a weaker layer. The danger with slabs is that a large mass of snow can slide down a slope burying a skier. Slabs can be divided into hard ...

If the snowpack is subject to a strong temperature gradient (anything above 10C per meter) water vapour gets driven through the snow and forms square looking crystals by a process of sublimation. That ...

At 1473 meters the Col de Vergio is Corsica's highest road pass. It is the most developed of the stations for those wanting to ski some piste with six drag lifts. The lift served area extends from ...

Approach skis or mini skis are short skis that are fitted with a special binding and are fitted with climbing skins. They are used to climb to off-piste routes over difficult snow conditions and can ...

I was almost reluctant to write this section of the PisteHors guide. As someone who has been interested in off piste skiing for a number of years I know the reputation of l'Espace Killy. You only have ...